NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUE
Imagine a land where every year a deadly plague afflicts 53,000 people—enough to fill a small stadium. Most are fortunate enough to discover their illness early, when it is completely curable. But 8,000 are not so lucky and their disease spreads to other parts of the body, with lethal consequences. Imagine this happening each year, with little reduction in the numbers who die, and you will understand the toll melanoma takes on patients and their families in the United States alone.
Currently, there are only two FDA-approved treatments for patients with metastatic melanoma: dacarbazine and interleukin-2. These treatments have complete response rates of 2.7 percent and 6.3 percent respectively. A durable complete response—the disappearance of all cancer—is the holy grail of cancer treatment. While patients ...
